


As the World Turns (or not...)

by Kinsfire (The_REAL_Kinsfire)



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-11 23:32:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18434402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_REAL_Kinsfire/pseuds/Kinsfire
Summary: This is a Human in Equestria story. He's no Gary Stu, and things are not exactly what he expected to find when he gets there.





	1. Incoming!

**Author's Note:**

> This always needs to be said about this story - I am not the owner of any of these characters except for those I put in as OCs. (And I will name those when it needs to be mentioned. My Little Pony and all the characters are property of Hasbro.

I have never been so happy that I wear a leather duster as I was that day. Let me explain what I mean.

I was walking toward the local McDonalds after getting out of classes. (Computer major, if you’re interested; minor in graphic design.) Between two of the campus buildings, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. Looking down that way, I noted that the air seemed to be wavering. Not like the heat from the sidewalk in the summer and more like I was looking through water. I could see the campus through the waves, so I headed over to see if I could figure out why the air was doing this weird thing.

Once I was there, I did something that probably classifies me as stupid. I stuck my hand into the area where the water shimmer was. I yanked it back out immediately when I noticed that not only did my hand disappear, but said hand also felt noticeably warmer that the surrounding air around the rest of my body. Frowning out of some sense of curiosity (I do that - brows furrow and I narrow my eyes when I’m studying something I’m not familiar with), I walked around to what should be the side of it, and discovered that it apparently was a two dimensional thing. The thing was utterly non-visible when not looking at it from the area I was now referring to as ‘the front’. To verify this, I moved to a point where I could see the waver/shimmer and reached my hand through from ‘the back.’ No displacement or anything - my hand stayed right where it should have, at the end of my arm. I then got cute. I basically shook hands with myself and pulled the hand in the front through from the back.

This was absolutely the worst thing I could have done. Since I was touching hands when it went through, the universe went a little weird. My left hand was elsewhere, but it was also _still holding my right hand_. This apparently led to me being sucked through the waver.

Where I found myself quite some distance about the ground. Easily two hundred feet, but most likely considerably more. Quick guesstimate made with no references to explain the guess came out to somewhere between five hundred and a thousand feet above land. Which I was falling toward at the moment.

Here’s where I became glad that I was wearing the duster. Since the thing hangs down well past my knees, it means that I could grab it and open it the best I could, what with a backpack on my back. It wouldn’t save me, I was certain, but it might at least make the impact crater noticeably smaller, I hoped.

I was able to get a purchase on it above my knees and opened it as wide as was possible. I actually felt my speed change! Not to mention that I was also able to direct my direction a bit. I noticed that I was kind of aiming for a barn, but decided that smacking into all that wood would not only _not_ slow my fall in a way I wanted (after all, the fall doesn’t kill you; it’s that sudden stop at the end of it), but would likely get the owner _really_ cheesed off at me. I veered and tried to aim for somewhere away from everybody, but discovered that the place was built up decently - there was a town nearby. I was now low enough that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to steer appreciably away from it, so I went for the softest landing I could manage. It might have worked; I might have actually been able to touch down and roll, giving myself some hellacious bruises and maybe a broken leg. My mistake was in looking up, because I saw [a very familiar city](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/c/c3/Canterlot_outer_view_S2E9.png/revision/latest?cb=20111204170657) that I _should not have been able to see_. I was so shocked that my jaw went slack. Unfortunately, so did my arms, which turned the glide into more of a tumble. I came to rest in a tree. I suspected that it was an oak tree as my consciousness decided to go on vacation in this new world I was in.


	2. Ow, ow, and even more ow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's in Equestria now, but will he survive the experience of making it there?

I have no idea how long I was out cold, but it can’t have been long, because I was still in the tree when I came to. I could hear voices below.

“What the heck kind of bird was _that_?” someone was asking. My ears were ringing enough that the whine was interfering with hearing anything else, but I have to admit that it _sounded_ like it might have been Rainbow Dash. I’d know shortly, unless I was going to expire shortly. I quickly discounted that idea, because I probably would have just stayed asleep in that instance. Instead, I was trying to take stock without moving, in case I was really badly hurt (like compound fractures, for example). My head hurt - hell, my whole _body_ hurt - but it usually does when I impact it with something as hard as it is. My neck hurt a little, and I suspected that when the adrenaline wore off, I was probably going to be in a neck brace while we waited for the neck muscles to heal. Unless, of course, something was broken in there and just waiting for movement to slice through the nerve, killing me instantly. (That’s why I wasn’t moving. Didn’t know what the damage was. Literally.)

I could feel all the way down to my toes, and I ventured to wiggle them inside my boots. It certainly felt like they did, so that probably meant that at least my feet were okay. Maybe my ankles too. I moved those a little as well, and felt some complaint from muscles further up my legs, but nothing excruciating.

“Hey, it’s moving its … I think they’re feet … it might be awake!”

“Ow …” I said.

“Hey, it can talk!” the person (probably pony, actually) exclaimed. I heard wingbeats and felt the biggest branch I was on shift. This in turn made me realize that I probably was at least bruised a hell of a lot more than I hoped, because the pain I felt made me hiss in pain. (More of an inhale, to be honest - that’s how I usually react to pain, rather than scream.) When it backed down to a manageable level I said, “Please be careful about moving around me. I’m in pain, and might have broken something. Or maybe a lot of somethings. Also, you should get away from me for your own safety.”

“I’m not scared of you!” she said in a very annoyed voice. Yep, that was Dash.

“You should be, because I come from an entirely different world, and might have all sorts of illnesses in my system that are harmless to me, but you never even heard of. That sort of problem has killed people _by accident_ where I come from. So please, move away before I possibly give you something that makes you sick, and please let whomever is trying to help get me out of this tree that when I’m removed, my body shouldn’t really be allowed to change the position of anything - legs, arms, head - nothing. And preferably in hazardous materials handling outfits.”

“Understood,” said another voice, which sounded to me like Twilight Sparkle’s voice. “We will be as careful as possible. Can you tell me where you’re from and how you came to be here?”

“In Equestria, or in your tree?”

“Both or either,” she said with a soft snort that sounded like a chuckle to me.

“Well, where I’m from is a different dimension, on a planet we inhabitants named ‘Dirt’. We actually use the word ‘Earth’, but the other name we sometimes call it is ‘Terra’. As is obvious, these both translate out to ‘dirt’, so that’s what I call it.” As for the rest, could I tell you that later, when the pain isn’t scrambling my wits? I have no issue telling you, but I don’t want to say something while the aches and such are doing things to my mental processes.”

“Oh, I am _so_ sorry! I should have realized -”

It might be rude, but I interrupted her before she could work herself into a tizzy that ended with her thinking she’d just managed to cause an interdimensional Incident. (Yes, that capital letter is on purpose.) “Miss, you’ve done nothing wrong. I crashed into something in the town I saw, didn’t I?”

“The Ponyville Library,” she replied with a nicker of amusement. “Your impact was felt throughout the tree.”

“I was trying to land outside of town, trying to _avoid_ that,” I groaned. “Sorry for surprising you.”

“I get the impression that your flight wasn’t as controlled as you would have liked, so I certainly can’t complain. And it may teach me not to ask for something interesting to happen on a day when I’m feeling bored.”

“Yeah, people forget that the curse ‘may you live in interesting times’ _is_ a curse. So _asking_ for interesting?” I chuckled and imitated Bugs Bunny. “Imagine, _askin’_ for it!” She let loose with a sound that couldn’t be anything but a laugh.

I heard some bustling around lower down, and heard ‘Twilight’ say, “Nurse Redheart! We need to keep the creature - sorry, whoever you are - as immobile as possible, according to it, in order to minimize further injuries.”

“Good thinking on its part,” came a voice from below. “Can you lift him out without letting him move?”

“I believe so,” she replied.

“Remember the hazmat gear!” I yelled. “I might have diseases in my system that do nothing to me but that could be fatal to your people! Be more cautious than you need to be!”

“Don’t worry,” came the voice from below. “As soon as Princess Twilight is ready, we’ll finish sealing up and get you to a clean room at the hospital.”

“I’m ready,” she said, and I saw a violet haze in front of my face. As soon as she lifted me, some of the worst pains went away, although one on my stomach hurt even more for a moment. I wondered what was wrong as I heard multiple gasps, and the voice from below yelled, “Get it down here as fast as safely possible! Actually, can you keep him like that and get him to the hospital?”

“Yes,” Twilight responded. I didn’t need to think of her in quotes anymore because someone had verified it for me. I saw the ground passing beneath me from a lot closer than when I’d been using my coat as wings. A little scary, but I was a fan of the show and knew that Twilight wouldn’t intentionally drop me.

The angle I was at, though, allowed me to see why the doctor or nurse (I suspected Nurse Redheart) wanted me at the hospital. I was apparently bleeding from a stomach wound, given that I couldn’t see the wound, but I _could_ see fat drops of blood leaving a trail. Luckily they weren’t dropping at too rapid a pace. But it also meant the surgery done on a species they’d never seen was likely to happen. I started to make peace with my maker, to be honest.

Nurse Redheart was keeping up with us, I’d noticed, and actually ran past, shouting, “Bring it in the back!” she yelled. “That’s closest to the room we’ll put it in!” to Twilight, who veered from her path.

“By the way,” I said, “I’m not offended in the slightest by the reference to ‘it’ in regard to me, but I am a male of my species.” I tried to convey a smile in my voice, but I did hurt, so I’m not sure how good I was at it.

“Good to know,” she said. “I’ll let everyoe else know as well.” About then she reached the doors, which were opened by someone in closed prtective gear. I slowed and was gently moved through the open portal all the way to the room they had set aside for me. Twilight stayed outside as her magic carried me to the bed they wanted me on.

It hurt, unfortunately, because the bed was sized to ponies. Even Big Macintosh was somewhat small compared to a full-sized human being. Remember, the show is called ‘My Little **PONY:** Friendship is Magic.’ If I were in better shape, I could have squinched a bit so that all of my body was on the bed.

While I was contemplating small beds, I could also hear them working on me. I felt the pain in my stomach die down and saw that they’d given some sort of localized anaesthesia to the area. They were trying to stop the bleeding, which was made more difficult by not knowing my interal organ arrangement. I heard them roll some equipment in and wondered what it was. They placed it above my head - about two feet up - and activated it, then stared at something as the top of the unit basically slid down my body. They hmm-ed and hemmed and one of them even hawwed as the device did … something.

When it was done, the haw-er said, “We’re going to need to do surgery to reconnect that blood vessel. Once that’s done, we can close you up and you should be good. Are you allergic to anything?”

“Do you understand what I mean when I say ‘penicillin’?” was my reply.

“We have something named that. How is yours made, in order to know if they’re the same thing?”

“Good thinking,” I said with an impressed nod. “I don’t know the modern process, but I do know that it was discovered by someone who accidentally let some blue bread mold fall into a petri dish he was working with. Came into the lab the next day and found that the mold had killed the illness cells around where it had landed.”

He nodded. “Good. The moment you said ‘blue bread mold’, I knew they were the same. So we’ll avoid any of the derivatives and hope that some of our others will work on your species.”

Nurse Redheart came in and said, “Surgery’s ready, Doctor Feelgood. Hall is clear.”

I valiantly fought off the laugh but the others there noticed me tense up. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” I finally lied. “Inadvertent pun where I come from.” They nodded and began moving me. I couldn’t stop myself from softly singing a filk song by Leslie Fish as they rolled me to surgery. “Blue bread mold, the story must be told, nothin’ keep ya livin’ like the blue bread mold …” I was rolled in to the room, and after a little bit of comedy trying to make a mask that fits a pony fit onto my face without a bad leak, I was sent gently off to sleep, still humming that same line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, not mine. the MLP characters belong to Hasbro (except Doctor Feelgood, an OC I made). Harry Potter is owned by J.K.Rowling and Warner.
> 
> He's there, and been through surgery, so now on to the further complications!


	3. Waking up is good to do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, he manages to wake up, which is a good thing. He starts to open lines of communication to the inhabitants of this world.

To my very great pleasure, I awoke. The stomach hurt, but given the insult to it followed by the further insult of surgery, that was to be understood. I checked myself out (visually, not ‘checked out Against Medical Advice’, which it most certainly would be right now), and realized that I was bandaged in more than a few places, but that was probably to covers scrapes. I didn’t appear to have anything broken anywhere, and they were apparently satisfied about my neck. I rather wished that they had some level of Harry Potter magic, where I could drink a potion and heal bruises and wounds, but I had one of the things I currently most wanted - a chance to meet the girls … young ladies … ponies … whatever that I’d been watching for a while.

It was while I was thinking about my injuries that I remembered my backpack and my hat. It’s a really nice leather one, with cloisonne pins of the Canterlot Princesses and the Mane Six put in each of the vent grommets. I’d had that thing for quite some time. _It’s probably either in the Everfree or somewhere near Apple Farms,_ I thought. _Not likely I’ll see it again._ The backpack I should have worn all the way to the tree I ended up in, so I wondered where it had gotten to. Not something I could find out right now.

There was a knock at the door before a white nose showed in the doorway. The nose was attached to Nurse Redheart, who was _not_ wearing a suit to protect her. “How are you feeling?” she asked me.

“Not too bad, considering I had surgery recently, after colliding with that tree. Um, I take it that you’ve been able to verify that I’ve got nothing that will bother your people?”

She nodded, smiling. “And the reverse is true as well. When you’re feeling a little better, you have some visitors who would like to talk to you. Possibly about those pins in your hat.” She chuckled. “As for now, you’ll probably go back to sleep soon, given the side effects of the anaesthesia we used. Don’t fight it if you feel yourself drifting off, it’s just your body telling you it wants to heal more.”

“Thank you,” I replied, stifling a yawn. Was my yawn because I was actually tired, or the power of suggestion? Either way, it seemed I was off to Lala-land again. I didn’t even notice her leaving.

* * *

I awoke to the sound of talking outside my door. It was quiet, so it wasn’t disturbing me, but I noticed it all the same. I think I recognized Rainbow Dash’s and Twilight Sparkle’s voices, so I assumed that the others were at least some of the Mane Six. “I’m awake, if you want to come in,” I called out. “And no, you didn’t wake me.”

The door nosed open again to allow Twilight, Dash, and Rarity into the room. The last one had my backpack encased in a soft blue glow. “It had to be cut off you, so I decided that it needed repair. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Thank you, Miss Rarity. It is greatly appreciated,” was my response. They all looked at me I shock. It took me a few seconds to realized why. “Sorry about that. I can explain, if you’d like.”

“Yes, please!” Twilight said, perking up at the possibility of new knowledge.

Smiling, I asked them, “Should I start with what I am and how I know you, or how I got here?”

“Right now I’m more curious about _you_ than how you came here,” Rainbow Dash said, somewhat confrontationally. “But I’m sure going to want to know how you got here eventually.”

“Rainbow Dash -” Twilight admonished, but I cut her off.

“She’s right to worry. I don’t know if it was a weird fluke, or whether I’m the precursor for others arriving, but it’s good to be alert for problems.” I shook my head in that weird gesture I do when I want to change the subject, as if I’m shaking the previous idea free from where it is. It looks like a rapid ‘no’ gesture, but much smaller in how much my head moves.

“Anyway” I said, “What I am is a human being, of the species homo sapiens sapiens. I think I said to someone before my surgery that my planet’s name translates out to ‘dirt’.”

“You said ‘Earth’ or ‘Terra’,” Twilight replied.

“Oh, that’s right, it was while I was still in the tree as one of the biggest ugliest birds that ever existed. I got sucked through a portal due to my own stupidity, thinking I was properly using scientific methodology to examine it. What I actually did was set up something that had no other choice than to such me into the other side. Which was about a thousand feet above what I assume is the Apple family’s farm. Big orchard just a bit outside the town?” They all nodded at the description. “Well it took me a few seconds, but I thought about my coat - please tell me they got it off without having to cut it?” I pled.

Rarity responded. “I’m still working on that one. I was rather scuffed and nearly torn by your ‘graceful’ landing in the tree.”

“At least it’s in one piece. That thing has served me well for as long as I’ve had it, especially recently. I would have impacted at a pretty decent speed without that coat.”

“You were still moving pretty fast when you hit the tree,” Rainbow Dash snarked.

“True, but I would have been noticeably faster without it. There’s a reason they call it _terminal_ velocity.” It actually isn’t the reason I was hinting at, but I was making a point.

“Actually, terminal velocity refers to the highest velocity that an object can each as it falls through a fluid. Air in this case, and it would take forever to explain why air is a fluid in this case, Dash,” Twilight said. “When the sum of the drag forceand the boutancy within that fluid equals the force of gravity, the acceleration becomes zero. That is the terminal, or last is another way to look at it, velocity.” She stopped and blushed a little. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “I was going to say that a bit later, but not as clearly as you.”

“That was clear?” Rainbow Dash complained. “I’m not even going to ask how air can be a fluid, and that seems to be what everything else depends on. It’s the speed something goes in free-fall from a height, when it can’t go any faster. Simple! Didn’t need all that egghead stuff.”

“Yours works just as well,” I said. “Now, if someone tries to explore where I may have shown up, be _very_ careful. The one I saw can only be seen from one side, and it looked like the air was wavering as if it was water. Consider it to be extremely danerous, if it exists any more. Maybe set up some cloud barriers to prevent someone accidentally flying through it?”

“You’re something we’ve never seen before, but you know things about us,” Dash complained. “How?”

“Egghead descriptions, to be honest,” I replied. “A writer from my world once described it as fictons, so to speak. He called it a ‘basic or indivisible unit of imagination’. What that really comes down to is that what you read as fiction here really exists out there in the wide multiverse. Some describe it as someone making a connection to a world-slash-universe and describing what they see. Not literally see, but what their imagination tells them is going on. The writer is, as far as they’re concerned, using their imagination to tell a story, but that universe they write about is actually real.”

“This is the case here. I’m a fan of a show they call ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.’ It’s about these six mares and their adventures, and some of the … interesting … situations that crop up. They’ve all been aimed at children, so you don’t have any worries about us seeing _everything_ you do. It’s just highlights, really.”

“Are you a child?” Rarity asked. “I ask because you _sound_ adult, but then you describe ‘our show’ as a children’s show.”

“Depending on who you ask back on my world, some might tell you ‘yes’.Really, though, my age is such that I’m considered a young adult. Old enough to vote and be drafted into the military, but not old enough to drink.” I shrugged, which is an odd thing to do when on your back. Something Nurse Redheart had said to me came back. “I was told about my hat? Where was it found?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “On your head, where else would it be?”

“I showed up a thousand feet up and flew - well, I didn’t fly so much as plummet - and I still had my hat on my head? How does that work?”

“Luck? Aerodynamics? Too tight?” Twilight offered.

“I don’t know and don’t feel like wasting the brain power right now. What really comes to mind is what happens now? I’m a stranger in a strange land, although I’m doubting a religion will crop up around me. I am an obligate carnivore, which may lead to some issues -”

“A what carnivore?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Obligate, darling,” Rarity answered for me. “It means that meat is a requirement in his diet. Much like Opalescent requires meat.”

“I think that what happens depends on how long you’re here for,” Twilight said.

“I’m here until I’m either sucked back home, if that’s possible, or I’m thrown home, if you find a way to send me back.”

“Do you want to go back?” Twilight asked.

“To be honest, Miss Sparkle, I have just become the thirteenth person of my species to set foot off my homeworld. I’m an explorer at heart, even if I’m not really built for it.” I slapped my stomach for emphasis, but had that ‘ohnosecond’ realization that it was a very bad thing to do. Pain spiked through the wound, and when I was able to see again, I probed the bandage to see if I’d started bleeding again. “Word to the wise - don’t do things as stupid as what I just did.”

I heard muted giggling from two of them and a snort from the third one. “Thank you for the tip, darling,” Rarity said, still giggling. She stopped and blushed slightly.

“I’m not offended, Miss Rarity. Have no fear on that. If anything, I’m afraid that I’m likely to do things that will make your friend Miss Applejack attempt to buck me in search of that portal.”

“She would do no such thing!” Rarity said in a scandalized voice.

“I know, based on what I’ve seen. Imagine the sort of … pronk … I’d have to be in order to make her _want_ to do that. I’m on a new world and have already potentially made my species look bad. No sense in making it worse.” All three of them chuckled as I finished. “What did I say that was funny?”

“It was your use of the word ‘pronk’. That’s a term for when ponies jump into the air, all four feet at the same time. It usually looks kind of silly,” Twilight said. “We see it a lot in foals when they get surprised. Adults do it too, but not as much.”

It was my turn to laugh. “I chose it as one of my non-profane swear words. Everyone gets a feeling for what I _wanted_ to say, but was too polite to.”

Nurse Redheart came along. “Sorry ladies, but you’ll have to let him be. He’ll likely be released before the week is out, though.”

“Thank you,” Rarity told her. “Oh, you might wish to check his stitches. He slapped his stomach to emphasize something, and it caused him considerable pain.”

“I realized that I shouldn’t be doing that too late to prevent the strike,” I said. “I don’t think I popped any of the stitches, but it couldn’t hurt to check.” She nodded, and the half of the Mane Six that had come to visit me said their farewells.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things become a tiny bit clearer, but there's still so much unsaid. What will become of our Intrepid Human?


	4. We're off to see the princess(es)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Release having been secured from the hospital, Our Hero has a chance to actually meet the Mane Six without pain being a major part of their conversation.

It was only two days later when they released me from the hospital. What made me particularly curious about things was the fact that I was far more healed than I would have been back home. I had some abdominal surgery when I was younger (some small tumor, if I remember), and it took a couple weeks to get to the point I was at the time of my release. Magic? Better medical science? Both? A deity metaphysically tapping my forehead and saying ‘be healthy’? I figured that I would probably never know.

What I did know was that now I had an even bigger problem than when I was in the hospital. Where was I to stay? Golden Oaks Library? A place built for ponies, who are considerably shorter than I am. (I’m about 5 foot 10 inches, and they seem to be somewhere between 3 and 4 feet tall.) All I have with me in my repaired back are my notebooks and my laptop, plus some of the other detritus I always pick up after a while. I don’t think there is anything my size, except maybe the Princesses beds. And since I haven’t met them yet, they might even (also?) be smaller than me. My only real decision was to walk down into the town and hope that didn’t cause a riot or something.

I was about halfway there when I saw the entire group approaching me. I could almost _hear_ the _BOING!_ sound effect from Pinkie Pie’s bouncing gait. That girl is by no means pudgy, by the way. You try getting around all day with that bounce that’s her trademark, and see how much energy you use up. Twilight was walking, even though she had wings. I was now able to scare up the brainpower to know that at least three of the seasons had happened, because Twilight got her wings during the final episode of Season 3.

“Greetings, ladies,” I called out, and while she was in the middle of one of her boings, Pinkie waved a hoof at me, continuing to do so as she bounced along. “How are you all this fine day?”

“We were about to ask you the same thing, my good sir,” Rarity called out. “You seem to be walking quite well for someone who just recently had surgery. Are your people fast healers?”

“Not this fast,” was my response. “I don’t know why my healing is as far along as it is right now, but I’m certainly not going to complain about it.” By this point we were within conversation distace of each other, rather than shouting. “I just need to figure out what to do next. I suspect that a number of doors would get slammed and windows shuttered if I walked through town, even with the six of you with me.”

“I’d like to say otherwise,” Twilight said, “but I remember the way we all acted when Zecora came to town.” She lookeddown in shame for a moment before she looked back up at me. “She’s a zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest,” she told me as she pointed a hoof off in the direction of said forest. “Kind of a dangerous place to be, but she’s fine in there.”

“Thank you for the heads up, Miss Sparkle,” I replied. “If you’re willig to risk it, so am I, but I don’t want to be the cause for panic.”

“Call me Twilight, and I think if the townsfolk see us walking with you, there should be far less of an issue.” She stopped and murmured in a voice I don’t think I was supposed to hear, “I hope.”

“Well then, lead on, ladies!” I said in a cheerful voice, even if I was dealing with some trepidation myself. Was Lyra human obsessed the way some fans think because of the episode where she’s seen sitting on a bench in human fashion, or is she just a normal pony?

I found out soon enough, because the group of us ran into her and Bon Bon (also known as Agent Sweetie Drops, if I recall correctly). Bon Bon stopped in her tracks and her pupils became pinpricks. (That thing you see in the series where the pupil and iris both shrink, even though the second shouldn’t be possible? They actually do that in Equestria.) Lyra, on the other hand (hoof?), had her eyes do the opposite. They have huge eyes to begin with, and it becomes cute beyond belief. I think the word for it in Japanese fits here - kawaii.

She pranced her way over to me. (That’s the only way to describe that bouncy walk you see them do in the show sometimes.) “Excuse me,” she asked in a very polite manner. “Are you, perchance, a human?”

I was feeling a bit silly, so I bowed to her and said, “That is both my blessing and my curse, miss.”

She nearly vibrated herself apart before she got herself under control and said, “If you’re here for a while, I’d love to have a chance to speak with you about your people.”

I was more than a little impressed that she contained herself, since it was blatant that she wanted to let loose with a squeal of delight at meeting me. “If such becomes possible, miss, then I shall gladly explain what I can. The good _and_ the bad.” I tipped my hat to her as she and Bon Bon walked away. We were almost to the library I almost entered the hard way when I heard “SQUEE!” from some distance away.

“Ah’m surprised she managed to hold it that long,” Applejack said.

“So am I, given the reaction she had to me. At least she was able to keep herself from going all fan-girl on me.”

“Fan girl?” Twilight asked, one eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.

“Imagine the reaction of some people … sorry, ponies, upon meeting Sapphire Shores or Coloratura. How they get speechless and try to invade their personal space? Questions a mile a minute?” She nodded in understanding. “Yeah, that,” I finished with a small chuckle.

We all worked our way into the library. “So, where do we go from here? Contacting the princesses? Twenty questions? Third degree?”

“Let me contact Princess Celestia and see what she wants to do. She may ask that we bring you to Canterlot.” She turned to Spike, who was already holding parchment and quill in preparation. She smiled. “That’s my number one assistant.” After a pause she said, “ _Dear Princess Celestia, the individual who collided with the tree a few days ago is awake and out of the hospital. He refers to himself as a ‘human’ from a planet called ‘Earth’. Shall we make him comfortable in Ponyville, or should we find him alternate accommodations? Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle._ ”

With the end of the letter, Spike rolled it up, tied it off, and then surrounded it in green fire. The cartoon made it look cute, but seeing it myself? It was amazing - sort of like watching a Star Trek transporter up close. The green flames didn’t so much consume the scroll as it seemed to disassemble it. “So you’re telling me that this will show up for Celestia, somehow?”

“Yeah,” Spike replied. “Shows up right in front of her.”

I laughed at that and said, “Take that, Heisenberg!”

“A rival of yours?” Twilight asked with a small smile.

“No, a scientist who stated that you could either know the speed of an elemental particle or where it was, but not both. Teleportation like that needs both. There’s a lot more to it than what I just said, but that’s the basic thing.” I was about to add to that, but Spike let loose with a rather impressive belch, which brought a scroll into existence in the room. This scroll was grabbed in a violet aura and moved toward Twilight.

After she opened it and read the letter contained within, she looked up at me. “If you’re interested, Princess Celestia would like to meet you at the palace.”

“Train to Canterlot, or some other way?” was my response.

“Good point,” she responded. Spike was already waiting with scroll and quill again. “Dear Princess Celestia, I forgot to mention that he is tall. He walks on two legs and could probably look into your eyes, or even look down slightly. Can you send a chariot for him, rather than having us accidentally causing untold panic on the train? Yours, Twilight.” Spike chuckled at the ending of the thing and sent it immediately. (Watching that was incredible, and I doubt it will ever get tiresome to see.)

The wait for a return scroll was nerve-wracking, to be honest. At least, they were for me. Twilight looked a bit worried, and the others mirrored her look, but it was likely much harder on me. After all, I’m some interloper from another dimension. Eventually, though, we heard a bit of a ruckus from outside the library. “Well, ah guess that explains why ya didn’t get a letter back, Twilight,” Applejack stated just before there was a knock at the door.

When opened, it was two people - sorry, ponies - in what looked like Royal Guard armor. “Miss Sparkle? The princess sent two chariots along, since she felt that it was likely that you would wish the other Element Bearers with you.” I don’t know what it sounded like to any of them, but that struck me as a command phrased as a request. I shrugged and worked my way out the door ahead of the Bearers, since if by some odd happenstance I got stuck, I not only had the guards in front, but six behind me to push.

Luckily, I needed no such help, and soon we were all outside. “What’s the arrangement of the chariots?” Twilight asked.

I spoke up, surprising all of them. “I should ride with Miss Applejack and Miss Sparkle. They’re the strongest physically ad magically, respectively.” I blinked. “Too many ‘-ly’ in that sentence. Anyway, I suggest that because if I turn out to be a threat, Miss Applejack could kick me off the chariot, and Miss Sparkle could probably hold me a good distance away from the chariot platform, facing away from everyone.”

“So let me get this straight,” one guard said. “You’re actually warning us that you might be dangerous?”

“I don’t intend to be, but it’s a good idea to be prepared for the eventuality. Silly not to, really. If you allow Rainbow Dash to fly alongside, that could also help, because I’m betting that she could hit me before I even saw her move.” I paused for a second. “How is this going to work? I’m hoping that I’m not being dropped into a crowd; that this is a quieter audience with far fewer people … sorry, ponies … meeting me: one or both Canterlot princesses, and a whole platoon of Royal Guards to ensure their safety.”

“Y’all are ready kinda strange,” Applejack said. “Y’r comin’ across as a decent type, but then you keep warnin’ us about how dangerous y’all are. What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know whether or not I’ll be the only one to ever come through that portal, but in case I’m not, you need to be prepared for humans. Individually we can be sweet and wonderful, much like Miss Fluttershy is, but as a group? I’ve got a few examples I could give, but you might not have dealt with them yet, and foreknowledge could be dangerous.” I snickered. “Like getting a message from next Tuesday that looks like a major apocalypse happens, and that affects the next week.”

“That was … a mistake,” Twilight said with a blush, “but point taken. Do you recognize the name ‘Sombra’?”

I relaxed in a major way. “Good, so you understand if I say it’d probably be a bit more like Chrysalis. Show up and seem friendly, but actually work toward overthrowing the government and setting their own in place. As a large group, humans are not a nice people.” I shook my head the way I do when I want to change the subject, as if I’m shaking that train of thought off the tracks. “So, I’m thinking we should get going before their highnesses get to worrying if I’ve done something nefarious to all of you.”


End file.
